Real Timehttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/real-time
en-usTue, 31 Mar 2015 17:41:26 -0400Tue, 31 Mar 2015 17:41:26 -0400The latest news on Real Time from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-mahers-approach-to-mastering-the-craft-of-comedy-2014-4Here's The Fascinating Reason Bill Maher Still Plays Theaters In Small-Town Americahttp://www.businessinsider.com/bill-mahers-approach-to-mastering-the-craft-of-comedy-2014-4
Mon, 07 Apr 2014 11:46:00 -0400Drake Baer
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/533c74a56bb3f7c043d5ca4e-480-/bill-maher-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Bill Maher" width="480" style="float: right;" /></p><p><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"></span></p>
<p>Every Friday night, Bill Maher hosts the&nbsp;<span>HBO political talk show&nbsp;</span>"Real Time with Bill Maher," which is watched by some 4.2 million people. Come Saturday, the comedian, who is&nbsp;<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidlariviere/2012/08/18/what-if-jerry-seinfeld-jon-stewart-and-bill-maher-owned-the-new-york-mets/" target="_blank">reportedly worth more than $20 million</a>, performs standup comedy in towns like&nbsp;Lincoln, Neb., and Greensboro, N.C.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Why would Maher, 58, spend his energy on such small-time gigs?&nbsp;<span>He says it keeps him comedically fit.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">I don</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">'</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">t know if I could do what I do as a talk show host if I wasn</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">'</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">t in shape as a comedian,</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> he says. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">You see what people love when you</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">'</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">re on stage; you see what just lights them up in a way that you can</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">'</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">t on </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">'</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Real Time.</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">'</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>When talking about doing standup, Maher calls it a "craft" or a "hobby." He compares perfecting his routine to building a ship in a bottle or making violins &mdash; professions that take decades to master.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The craft is in "moving one word around, from the middle of the sentence to the end of the sentence," he says. "It's moving one joke that works pretty good over here, moving it behind this other joke, and now it's a giant laugh."</span></p>
<p>Maher calls this "tinkering," the process of getting the act just right. Like a musician, Maher brings a setlist of his performance on stage, sketching out sections and individual jokes to be delivered. The tinkering, then, is a matter of constantly shifting the setlist to find the ideal rhythm and delivery, all while introducing fresh material.&nbsp;</p>
<p>That's why when he's on a plane, in the back of a car, or sitting in a hotel room, you'll often find Maher with a yellow notepad in hand, taking notes on potential jokes. <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>Maher is in constant review, too. He tapes every standup performance. Once he gets off stage, he immediately looks at the film, like a quarterback studying the game tape. He searches for ad libs that fit into the routine, lines that did particularly well, and jokes with just the right delivery. Those highlights get transcribed and saved.</p>
<p>Then, when he gets home from a show, he takes his notes and edits them into his setlist. He keeps his current version of the set on his at-home computer, along with scripts he has of jokes that went off perfectly.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Getting good at comedy is a long process, Maher says. The early years are painful. You're just generic comedy to your audiences, and nobody knows who you are. He remembers feeling insulted when he stood on stage and got no laughs.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">For the first 20 years, he didn't get a single standing ovation.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">But over the last 15, he</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">'</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">s gotten one almost every performance.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>"With live television, there's always an element of throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks,"&nbsp;<span>Maher</span> says. "With standup, I get to perfectly shape something that's hopefully a mind-blowing experience for the audience that just came at them, wave after wave of intelligent, funny thoughts. And I think that's why they&nbsp;<em>do</em>&nbsp;stand at the end."</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-maher-campaign-congress-house-representatives-worst-member-2014-1" >Bill Maher Is Going To Try To Knock Off A Sitting Member Of Congress</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-mahers-approach-to-mastering-the-craft-of-comedy-2014-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/ad-exec-quit-because-of-oreos-super-bowl-tweet-2013-8This Ad Exec Quit His Job In Disgust Over Oreo's Super Bowl Tweethttp://www.businessinsider.com/ad-exec-quit-because-of-oreos-super-bowl-tweet-2013-8
Thu, 01 Aug 2013 17:10:00 -0400Laura Stampler
<p>An <a href="http://blog.andrewteman.org/post/56782677567/im-quitting-advertising">advertising executive says he's dropping out of the game</a>, and it's all because of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-genius-way-Oreo-immediately-responded-to-the-super-bowl-blackout-on-twitter-2013-2">Oreo's infamous Super Bowl blackout tweet.</a></p>
<p>When the lights went off during the game, ad agency 360i immediately tweeted a simple picture of an Oreo standing in a spotlight, surrounded by darkness, with the text: "You can still dunk in the dark." Ever since then, the industry has been obsessed with real-time social media marketing.</p>
<p>All <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/13-execs-are-listed-in-creative-credits-for-that-oreo-super-bowl-tweet-2013-5">13 ad executives &mdash; thirteen! &mdash;&nbsp; involved in the Oreo tweet won a Clio award for that one tweet</a>. And then it was nominated for the Cannes Lions awards, the biggest advertising honor in the world.</p>
<p>That's when <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewteman">Andrew Teman</a>, a VP of social media/digital strategy and then a VP of experience planning at Hill Holliday, tweeted that if Oreo's simple tweet won, he was quitting.<img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/51fac434eab8eabd1900001f-527-271/screen shot 2013-08-01 at 3.37.44 pm.png" border="0" alt="andrew teman twitter oreo" /></p>
<p>Well, the <a href="http://blog.360i.com/360i-news/oreo-wins-grand-prix-award-6-total-lions-at-cannes">Oreo won a Grand Prix and five other awards at Cannes.</a>&nbsp;And now Teman is quitting. (Kind of, but we'll get to that.)</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/51facc3b69beddd11e000009-457-342/andrew-teman-1.png" border="0" alt="andrew teman" width="480" />In a blog post called <a href="http://blog.andrewteman.org/post/56782677567/im-quitting-advertising">"I'm Quitting Advertising"</a> that has been circulating the ad world, Teman explains that his beef isn't with Oreo &mdash; the company's work is "simple, it's timely, it's on-brand, and it almost always fit the medium in which it appears" &mdash; it's with the ad industry itself "that's holding this up as something revolutionary. Something that deserves the grandest of advertising awards"</p>
<p>Real time marketing has become the "it" thing in advertising. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/brands-are-already-trying-to-capitalize-on-the-royal-baby-birth-2013-7">Minutes after the royal baby's birth, a slew of marketers tweeted</a> out pre-packaged images and messages "spontaneously" reacting (and capitalizing) on the moment.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Teman continues: "I<span>n bestowing this award on this piece of work, we&rsquo;re actually exposing a really sad truth. That the advertising industry has become&nbsp;so top-heavy with cost and process and approvals and meetings and waste, that the idea of just making a simple image, and deploying it to a simple platform at an opportune moment, is considered at this point to be ground-breaking."</span></p>
<p>So Teman has had it ... although not entirely. Really he is forming a new ad agency with his friend Thomas O'Connell called <a href="http://wemakeheart.com/">"Heart"</a>&nbsp;that gets creative done "without the cumbersome ad agency model and way of working."</p>
<p>Even though Teman's not out of the industry, his point does resonate. Especially when juxtaposed with the massive <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/live-omnicom-and-publicis-announce-their-merger-in-paris-2013-7">Omnicom-Publicis merger, creating the largest holding company in the world valued at $35 billion.</a></p>
<p>Everyone is asking what serves talent better: the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/live-omnicom-and-publicis-announce-their-merger-in-paris-2013-7">small independent shop or the giant holding company?</a></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ad-exec-quit-because-of-oreos-super-bowl-tweet-2013-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-oreo-tried-to-win-the-oscars-on-twitter-2013-2Here's How Oreo Tried To Win The Oscars On Twitterhttp://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-oreo-tried-to-win-the-oscars-on-twitter-2013-2
Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:23:00 -0500Laura Stampler
<p>You probably can't sleep if you're on Oreo's social media team.</p>
<p>After the cookie company's clever &mdash; and immediate &mdash; reaction to the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-genius-way-oreo-immediately-responded-to-the-super-bowl-blackout-on-twitter-2013-2">Super Bowl blackout with a tweet that read "You can still dunk in the dark,"</a>&nbsp;Oreo has become the go-to brand for quick tweets on notable pop culture moments, complete with original artwork as well.</p>
<p>During the Grammy's, Oreo celebrated Justin Timberlake's musical turn by tweeting a picture of a <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/prnewser/oreo-does-it-again-with-timely-justin-timberlake-grammy-tweet_b57198">cookie with a bow tie that read, "Bringing Tasty Back,"</a> (a reference to Timberlake's "Bringing Sexy Back").</p>
<p>It also brought its game face to <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/twitter">Twitter</a> for the Academy Awards.</p>
<p>Oreo's first Tweet was a reference to "Wreck It Ralph," which was nominated for best animated film:</p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/512b6624eab8ea8007000000-480-516/screen shot 2013-02-25 at 8.12.05 am.png" border="0" alt="oreo oscars twitter wreck it ralph" /></p>
<p>Then, during the James Bond tribute, Oreo paid its own homage to the international man of mystery by recreating the films' famous gun barrel sequence:<img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/512b6692eab8ea3a0400001f-479-555/screen shot 2013-02-25 at 8.13.59 am.png" border="0" alt="oreo james bond oscars" /></p>
<p>Of course, Oreo noted that everyone wasn't watching the Oscars. The cookie's Twitter account also gave a "Walking Dead" shoutout since the show was competing with the Academy Award broadcast:<img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/512b6735ecad04db6a000026-478-523/screen shot 2013-02-25 at 8.14.32 am.png" border="0" alt="oreo oscars twitter walking dead" /></p>
<p>And finally, Oreo was there for biggest award of all: the best picture category. As soon as "Argo" won, Oreo tweeted a reference to its plot:<img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/512b67ad69bedda416000000-478-552/screen shot 2013-02-25 at 8.15.18 am.png" border="0" alt="oreo oscars twitter argo" /></p>
<p>While the <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/super-bowl-6">Super Bowl</a> tweet was completely off-the-cuff &mdash; no one expected a blackout in the middle of the biggest live broadcast of the year! &mdash; we're suspecting that many of these reactions were already ready to go by the time a winner was announced on TV.</p>
<p>Oreo even created a hashtag, #OREOmotionpics, for the affair.</p>
<p>Even though none of these tweets had the viral success of the blackout reaction, Oreo has cemented a spot as a real-time marketer to watch.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/samsungs-oscars-ad-unicorn-apocalypse-2013-2" >Samsung Used The Oscars To Launch 'Unicorn Apocalypse' Ads — Starring Tim Burton</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-oreo-tried-to-win-the-oscars-on-twitter-2013-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/realtime-nabs-100-million-to-make-the-internet-more-like-live-tv-2012-8Realtime Raises $100 Million To Make The Internet More Like Live TVhttp://www.businessinsider.com/realtime-nabs-100-million-to-make-the-internet-more-like-live-tv-2012-8
Wed, 08 Aug 2012 11:16:48 -0400Julie Bort
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/50227ec8ecad04926b000005/andr-parreira-realtime.jpg" border="0" alt="Andr&eacute; Parreira Realtime" /></p><p>Imagine never having to hit your browser refresh button again. Imagine that the whole Internet continuously live streams itself, even if you keep a single Web page open for hours -- or if you access a site from your mobile phone.</p>
<p>Imagine being an enterprise that builds a website that updates worldwide in a millisecond and then reports back to you in realtime what people are doing on your site.</p>
<p>That's the goal of Brazilian company Realtime, which launched in the U.S. today with $100 million investment from BRZTech Holding, a three-month old S&atilde;o Paulo-based venture fund.</p>
<p>The goal isn't just to bring Realtime's products to the U.S., but to fundamentally change the way the Internet is delivered, the company says.</p>
<p>This isn't a really new idea. The concept of "push" technology grew up in the 1990s with the Web and is the basis of a lot of services, like instant messaging. (Remember PointCast Network which pushed stock info and was embedded into <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/internet-explorer">Internet Explorer</a> and Netscape? It was eventually killed off by RSS feeds.)</p>
<p>But Realtime already has a couple of offerings that are different from that old tech and have been widely adopted worldwide. The company claims it has 2,000 global customers and already delivers "an average of 500,000 messages per second, with a worldwide footprint that surpasses 80 million user-connections every 24 hours."</p>
<p>Realtime does this through a cloud for hosting realtime apps known as Open Realtime Connectivity and it offers a freemium product for building apps using a language it calls xRTML (or extensive Realtime multiplatform language). xRTML can convert an existing static web page into a Realtime &ldquo;live Web&rdquo; delivery page.</p>
<p>It is opening offices today in New York and Santa Monica, Calif.</p>
<p>We asked CEO and founder Andr&eacute; Parreira a few questions about the company's technology and how it differs from other ways to create live apps on the Web.</p>
<p><strong>Do you have any U.S. companies using the technology yet and what are they doing with it?</strong></p>
<p>Realtime is in the early stages in terms of relationships with clients, who are advertisers, e-commerce sites and publishers. Right now, this is still a proof-of-concept stage with clients.</p>
<p>Clients are incorporating xRTML on their site to see the power of real-time and testing the real-time analytics to determine the business intelligence that they can get from it.</p>
<p>Clients are seeing real-time in action: how many people are looking at their home page and ads -- and they're making valuations on time exposure.</p>
<p><strong>How is this different from other methods to build streaming apps on the Web, like <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/flash">Flash</a> or <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/silverlight">Silverlight</a>?</strong></p>
<p>Realtime is not an app.</p>
<p>Realtime allows developers, companies, etc. to have a single focal point of information (think of a message bus) where you can have different systems communicating with each other (a desktop app, a mobile app, a web app). You suddenly have the ability to have information flowing to and from different systems while allowing you to actually PUSH that content to a web user, without the need of plugins or anything else installed on your browser or computer.</p>
<p>While it CAN work with Flash and Silverlight (we provide APIs for these two platforms), it's not really comparable. You can make your Flash game and use Realtime for all the multiplayer communication, for example. You could even do a multi-platform multiplayer game by having the browser (Flash) version, a mobile version and a desktop version, all communicating between each other (through one-to-many and many-to-many communication).</p>
<p>Realtime is a way for applications and users to communicate between several platforms and using a plethora of protocols (it uses the best possible - WebSockets for browser, for example), not to author content or applications (like Flash and Silverlight is).</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/realtime-nabs-100-million-to-make-the-internet-more-like-live-tv-2012-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/maher-gay-bachmann-video-2011-7Bill Maher And His Panel Get RAUNCHY While Talking About The Bachmannshttp://www.businessinsider.com/maher-gay-bachmann-video-2011-7
Sat, 16 Jul 2011 01:27:00 -0400Steven Loeb
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4dcdf118cadcbb16401a0000/bill-maher.png" border="0" alt="Bill Maher" /></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/bill-maher" class="hidden_link">Bill Maher</a> and his panel decided to talk about the controversy over Michele Bachmann's husband and his reparative therapy, where he tries to turn gay children straight,&nbsp;and things might have gone a little bit too far.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/dan-savage" class="hidden_link">Dan Savage</a> called the practice "spiritual and psychological abuse," noting "you can&rsquo;t pray away the gay, but you&nbsp;can&nbsp;torture a conflicted closet case to death."&nbsp; Marc Maron joked about it, calling the whole Bachmann marriage an "some sort of prolonged experiment in this reparative therapy."</p>
<p>Maher and Savage also blasted the Bachmann's for receiving money from the government for the clinic and for their farm, with Savage labeling them "grifters and scumbags."</p>
<p>And if you think that is harsh, just wait until you hear what Maron followed it up with:</p>
<p>"I don't want to be crass but I just hope that Marcus Bachmann takes all that, you know, that rage that comes from repression and denial and brings it into the bedroom with her. I hope he fucks her angrily, because that's how I would and I've thought about it."</p>
<p>Uh oh.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ann-coulter-bill-maher-women-bachmann-video-2011-7">Given what conservatives have been saying about him lately</a>, you know Maher didn't need a comment like that on his show.</p>
<p>Savage, most likely trying to diffuse the uproar that is bound to spring up, said that he, as a gay man, had the same feeling about <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/rick-santorum" class="hidden_link">Rick Santorum</a>.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I sometimes think about fucking the shit out of <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/rick-santorum">Rick Santorum</a>."</p>
<p>"I&rsquo;m up for whipping up some santorum in&nbsp;Santorum.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Something tells me that is not going to help.</p>
<p>Video below:</p>
<p><iframe width="420" height="421" frameborder="0" src="http://videos.mediaite.com/embed/player/?layout=&amp;playlist_cid=&amp;media_type=video&amp;content=WFRFMD1LNKCTVTBN&amp;read_more=1&amp;widget_type_cid=svp"></iframe></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/maher-gay-bachmann-video-2011-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-maher-bill-oreilly-super-bowl-olbermann-2011-2BILL MAHER: Not Only Is Bill O'Reilly Unpatriotic, He's Also A 'Dick'http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-maher-bill-oreilly-super-bowl-olbermann-2011-2
Sat, 12 Feb 2011 11:06:00 -0500Steven Loeb
<p><strong><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4d56ad70ccd1d5017a0e0000/maher-orelly.png" border="0" alt="maher o'relly" />Bill Maher</strong> is not backing down.</p>
<p>Maher<strong> </strong>made <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-oreilly-obama-morning-joe-bill-maher-unpatriotic-2011-2">no secret last week</a> about his feelings on the interview <strong>Bill O'Reilly</strong> did with <strong>President Obama</strong> before the Super Bowl, even going so far as to question O'Reilly's patriotism.</p>
<p>He addressed it again on his show last night calling it "very disrespectful."</p>
<p>Author&nbsp;<strong>Hooman Majd</strong>, who was a guest on the show, even called some of the questions "bigoted":</p>
<p>"When he asked him if he knows football. I mean if I was the President I would have said, 'F*ck you, get out of my house.'"</p>
<p>Maher even went so far as to label O'Reilly as a "dick."&nbsp;</p>
<p>"I cannot imagine <strong>George W. Bush</strong> giving a pre-Super Bowl interview to <strong>Keith Olbermann</strong>. And then if Keith Olbermann treated him like that? Interrupted him over and over? Leaned over like it was a bar? I thought he was going to ask him to get some mother f*cking iced tea."</p>
<p>[Ed note: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-oreilly-reaction-obama-interview-video-2011-2">Oh, please</a>.&nbsp; Maher is staring to sound like the liberal's <strong>Sean Hannity</strong>.]</p>
<p><strong>Matthew Perry</strong>, who was also a guest on the show said:&nbsp;"O'Reilly is so egomaniacal... he's more interested in his opinion than anybody else's, obviously. But he even showed it that he's even willing to show the President that in his presence. It was really off-putting and bad."&nbsp;</p>
<p>Video below</p>
<p>
<object width="640" height="390">
<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ahefB3H0F_Y&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;version=3" />
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" />
<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ahefB3H0F_Y&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;version=3" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed>
</object>
</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-maher-bill-oreilly-super-bowl-olbermann-2011-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-maher-mona-eltahaway-egypt-fox-news-video-2011-2Bill Maher Calls Out Egyptian Guest: 60% Of Egyptians Polled Want Sharia Lawhttp://www.businessinsider.com/bill-maher-mona-eltahaway-egypt-fox-news-video-2011-2
Sun, 06 Feb 2011 10:34:49 -0500Steven Loeb
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4d4ebe48cadcbb2166130000/maher-egypt.png" border="0" alt="maher egypt" /></p><p>On <em>Real Time</em> Friday night, <strong>Bill Maher</strong> interview Egyptian-born journalist <strong>Mona Eltahawy</strong> about the current revolution going on in her country.</p>
<p>"I'm ecstatic. I'm 43 years old, this is the happiest moment of my life."</p>
<p>Responded Maher (typically): "Wow, you're 43? Egypt don't crack!"</p>
<p>Maher wanted to know If what we see is really representative of Egypt?</p>
<p>Absolutely not, Eltahawy said.</p>
<p>Then Maher brought up the fact that over 60% of Egyptians polled said they wanted Sharia Law,&nbsp;things got a little heated.</p>
<p>"I've got to tell you something, Bill. Nobody is in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria, or anywhere else in Cairo, braving the brutal forces of Hosni Mubarak, so that he can get stoning or Sharia. They are out there for freedom and dignity."</p>
<p>But that, he said, IS representative of the entire country.</p>
<p>"I hate to bring reality into."</p>
<p>"I didn't think we were going to get into Fox News sparring matches that quick," responded Eltahawy, eliciting 'ooohs' from the crowd and an eyebrow raise from Maher.</p>
<p>Said Maher: "This is not Fox News, this is reality."</p>
<p>So what is the reality, according to Eltahawy?</p>
<p>That there is a "succession of old men" that have been propped up by the United States, who have shut down any type of opposition except for the kind based on religion.</p>
<p>"This entire revolution is about telling these old men who have strangled our country, 'Fuck you.' And I'm telling your administration, 'Let them go' and let us take our country back."</p>
<p>And all of the myths about the Arab world needing a "strongman" to keep them in line? They are now being dispelled by people who are fighting for their freedom from brutal dictators.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Video below</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="345" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mJYBryXeGek"></iframe></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-maher-mona-eltahaway-egypt-fox-news-video-2011-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-steele-defends-sarah-palin-2011-1Michael Steele Goes Rogue, Defends Sarah Palin And Michele Bachmann Over Recent Gaffeshttp://www.businessinsider.com/michael-steele-defends-sarah-palin-2011-1
Sat, 29 Jan 2011 10:43:00 -0500Steven Loeb
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4d442e44cadcbbbd34090000-366-243/steele-palin.png" border="0" alt="steele palin" width="366" height="243" /></p><p>Appearing on <em>Real Time With Bill Maher</em> last night, former RNC chair <strong>Michael Steele</strong> defended <strong>Sarah Palin</strong> over some of the&nbsp;gaffes she has made, something he was known to do while he was Chairman of the RNC.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Said Maher (naturally):</p>
<p>"Between her and Michele Bachmann, I don't know who knows history less. History is important. You've got to admit she got &nbsp;Sputnik all wrong. She gets everything all wrong. And the knives are out for her... They used to back off, and they can't do it anymore. She's just too stupid, even for them."</p>
<p>Responded Steele:</p>
<p>"Look, I've been in those situations where you say something and you get the context wrong, you get dates wrong, you get things wrong...But the reality of it is, she was talking about the spending part of the cost involved."</p>
<p>However, he also conceded that the Republican "knives are out" for Palin.</p>
<p>Steele is obviously&nbsp;holding some grudges against his own party. Earlier in the interview, after Maher pointed out that under his time as chairman the Republicans had their biggest victory since 1938 and that he was then promptly fired for it, Steele called it "Republican justice" and then he comes out in defense of someone that many in his own party are now distancing themselves from.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Is Michael Steele going rogue?&nbsp;</p>
<p>Video below</p>
<p><iframe width="420" height="421" frameborder="0" src="http://videos.mediaite.com/embed/player/?layout=&amp;playlist_cid=&amp;media_type=video&amp;content=GLNXVB2FN43YFC89&amp;read_more=1&amp;widget_type_cid=svp"></iframe></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-steele-defends-sarah-palin-2011-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>